What You Preach
by Nyodrite
Summary: "'To know what is right and choose to ignore it is the act of a coward.'" Kakashi quoted and sighed as he peered at the memorial. "I have been a coward, Sensei." he paused, wincing at the thought of how disappointed the man would be with him, before promising. "But I /will/ do better from here on."
1. Prologue

In the wake of the Kyuubi attack, Kakashi had watched over his newly deceased Sensei's son for almost two weeks- exhausted, grieving, entirely in over his head and ears ringing the newborn constantly wailed over something it instinctively knew was missing- as the Sandaime, hurriedly reinstated as Hokage, tried to work through the mess of construction, search and rescue along with organizing a mass funeral. Twelve days after the attack, the creation of a Jinchūriki was remembered by the higher ups and his Sensei's son was taken from him to be placed into protective custody.

He was emotionally detached enough at the time that he put up nothing more then a token of protest over the loss- some part simply saying '_What's another loss anyways?'_ it was disconcerting in hindsight.

Kakashi was assigned to search and rescue for a week, working with Inuzuka and his summons to find people that ended up buried in rubble, before he was sent out on missions. The missions he took were either A-Ranked or S-Ranked and taken in a long, consecutive string, as were anyone else taking missions, in order to provide funds for the village and show the other hidden villages that Konoha was still strong. He fought in several border skirmishes as Kiri, Iwa, Kumo and even Suna tested Konoha's strength. He was also there when Kiri laid siege to one of their outposts- surviving on soldier pills for nearly a week before reinforcements could be organized and dispatched to them.

When the dust had finally settled and he had been able to remain in Konoha longer then at most a week, Kakashi hadn't seen Sensei's son in nearly four and a half years but he made no moves to contact the child as he had long since become complacent with receiving reports of the child's progress as he in turn reported to the Hokage. He knew things like Sensei's son had sat up at six months and two weeks, crawled at nine months, said 'mama' at ten months, stood an eleven and a half months, walked at thirteen months, ran at fifteen months and could hold small conversations at twenty months.

Tenzo, his partner of almost three years and friend for a year, said that he was in denial over his life and thus forced himself to be emotionally complacent with things as they were in fear of any action he took making it _worse_.

Kakashi promptly lit him on fire.

He had drifted through life- taking missions, ending up in the hospital, training as he was 'grounded' before returning to missions- for nearly three years, Tenzo his ever present shadow, when Itachi was drafted into ANBU and placed with him and Tenzo. The thirteen year old stirred up his and Tenzo's partnership with his quiet brilliance and calm efficiency but it wasn't unpleasant and the three of them came together as a team easily enough.

With Itachi, however, came his family.

The first time he had met Mikoto and Fugaku after _then_- after death and pain and guilt and sorrow- he had shifted awkwardly as Mikoto hugged him and gushed over how much he had grown while Fugaku acted perfectly courteous despite the fact that Kakashi had been actively avoiding the man for over a decade. Then came Sasuke, the shy yet energetic seven-going-on-eight year old, whom believed that he was the coolest and most powerful shinobi in Konoha simply due to the principle of them being Itachi's teammates and delighted whenever Kakashi told him stories (non-confidential and kid-friendly with overly exaggerated fights) of missions with Itachi.

And he _ached_ for Sensei, for Kushina and for their son.

Kakashi had decided to contact Naruto but procrastinated so long that things went to hell as Itachi murdered his clan (_orders_ fucking _orders_) and traumatized Sasuke to the point that the boy instinctively blocked out memories of him and Tenzo out of fear of what they, as Itachi's teammates, would do. Then he was out of the village with a string of high ranking missions as Konoha tried to show the world that they were strong even with the death of the Uchiha Clan. Despite this, a small war broke out that he fought in- on the front lines with many of the shinobi of his generation (somehow reigniting the 'rivalry' with Gai) as he earned the titles of '_Kopī Ninja no Kakashi'_ and '_Sharingan no Kakashi'_- that was later alternately called the 'False' War of Konohagakure or the Uchiha Legacy War.

By the time he got back it had been a little over four and a half years and his drive to see Sensei's son had long since shriveled into nothing. At which point he had decided that it was past the point where he could integrate himself into the child's life and he should just resign himself to be content with updates.

Of course once he had reached this decision the Sandaime decided that he should be the Jōnin-sensei to Team 7 consisting of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto.

Unable to wriggle his way out of it _("Tenzo may be able to control the Kyuubi if need be Kakashi, however, only _you_ can teach Sasuke about the Sharingan. My decision is final.") _he had met with the three prospective students and told them he was going test them the next day before promptly leaving. He then decided that he was going to give the three the Bell Test, one which would seem fair under scrutiny but he knew that the three would likely fail (he had Tenzo, along with a few newbies, scout out the three) due to their conflicting personalities.

Which he was entirely fine with as it gave him another year to figure out a way to push them off onto someone else or get himself killed so that he wouldn't have to deal with them.

Yet they had _passed_. And now here he was, wandering around the village until, inevitably, his feet carried him back to the memorial stone with what he had told them running through his head.

_Those who don't care for the rules are scum … but those who don't take care of their friends are worse than scum._

And had he not ignored this, left Naruto to his own devices when he should have honored the bonds he had with the boy's parents and, at the very least, spoke to the boy- the same with Sasuke. But, despite this, he had stuck his head in the ground and ignored the problem in hopes that it would just disappear.

"_'To know what is right and choose to ignore it is the act of a coward.'_" Kakashi quoted and sighed as he peered at the memorial. "I have been a coward, Sensei." he paused, wincing at the thought of how _disappointed_ the man would be with him, before promising. "But I _will_ do better from here on."

* * *

**A/N:** I wasn't going to write this but I was attacked by a plot bunny due to a conversation with _TheFanficBaka_ and this was born.


	2. Practicality

At six forty-five Kakashi grabbed his wallet before venturing to the eastern early morning market to buy rope, three pens and four blank journals. Thus it was seven twenty-six when he arrived to his teams designated training area, which he thought was reasonable as he was two and three hours late the previous times.

"Your LATE!" Naruto shouted along with Sakura.

"Maa," Kakashi sighed, "If this is how you are going to be then maybe I should leave until you are going to be more receptive."

He was amused as Sasuke tensed, Naruto sputtered and Sakura hurriedly cried, "No! Sensei, we're really, _truly_ glad that you are here!"

"Alright, I'll stay." He told them after letting them stew for a minute. "Today we are going to do a little experiment- I want you three to line up beside each other with Sasuke in the middle."

They did so and he took the rope he had gotten earlier out even as Naruto's face screwed up, "Why do you need rope- you're tying us up!? You pervert!"

"There!" Kakashi exclaimed cheerfully once the ropes were tied; one which connect Naruto to Sasuke and the other connecting Sasuke to Sakura with both having enough length that they were able to stand four feet away from each other. "Now we're going on a run around the village, _without chakra,_ to see who collapses first and if you can do a do another lap carrying the teammate whom collapsed. Go!"

"B-but Sensei!" Sakura protested.

He eyed his students, all varying degrees of protest, and mused aloud, "How about an incentive? If you guys can keep running until noon- and running means _running_- then I'll...hmm...I'll tell you three a story about my time on the front lines of the 'False War'. But only if you can." He added at their interested looks.

"Alright! We'll _definitely_ be able to do this and earn a story- _Dattebayo_!"

Kakashi's students did _not_ make it to noon, they lasted only until nine forty-five even with Sakura being carried. He had, however, expected such a dismal performance from Sakura- not because she was a girl but, rather, she hailed from a civilian family and did not understand how important self-training was- and had planned his lessons after the exercise to be non-exerting.

"There are things that the Academy doesn't teach you about life as a shinobi," Kakashi told them as handed them the rest of what he had bought earlier, though he kept one journal and procured his own pen. "Things which, as orphans and a civilian child, you have a disadvantage at learning since it is under the assumption that everyone has already learned them by the time they graduate due to their family's influence."

He paused before continuing, noting how only the girl was paying avid attention with a mental sigh. "Our little 'experiment' introduced you all to three such things; 1) A team can only travel as fast as their slowest member, 2) Chakra runs out so you need to be able to keep moving _without_ it- Sakura, how many hours did you train during the Academy when you _weren't_ told to?"

"...none..." the equal parts shamed and embarrassed girl mumbled eventually.

He nodded, watching her shrink into herself when Sasuke spared her a half incredulous and half disgusted look, "And 3) Self-training is _important_, you will never grow if you train only when and what is assigned to you- once you become chūnin it is entirely up to you what, when and how you will be training."

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto interrupted. "If you're just going to lecture us, why'd you give us these books?"

"Money." He answered bluntly. "It costs money to live the life of a shinobi- between things like housing, mission tax, equipment upkeep, necessities of a more...ah..._personal_ nature and food there isn't much left over, if any. So I am going to have you three create weekly budgets for yourselves like on mine."

"On average, prior to you three, I was taking at least one mission with a reward of 510,000 ryō a week." He told them, showing them what he had written in the book he had kept. "Each village has a tax for missions, Konoha has a 30% missions tax- the tax allows for shinobi to get free medical treatment- and so that is automatically 153,000 ryō out of my average weekly salary. Then there's rent at 19,846 ryō a week."

Here Naruto interrupted, "I thought rent was _monthly_, why are you saying weekly?"

"I'm an active shinobi, a month is too long to invest in for someone whom might not be coming back." Kakashi answered blithely, causing his students to pale, before continuing his impromptu lecture. "For food I have at 1,630 ryō while personal upkeep is 10,180 ryō and pet care is 22,390 ryō. Then, finally, there is equipment replacement and repair at 300,600 ryō with anything left over used for other things like entertainment."

Sakura's eyes were wide, "3-300,600 ryō!? That more then the pay for the highest paying B-Ranked missions!"

"Ah." He made a vague noise of agreement, "For you three, you will have an average of three missions a week equaling a total of 76,530 ryō plus things like allowance and orphan's funds with an automatic deduction of 22,959 ryō. You will have to use 25,510 ryō for equipment but can chose how much, if any, you spend for things like housing, food, pets, entertainment and personal things."

With that, Kakashi settled back to read _Icha Icha_- years of bad habits weren't lost in a day after all.

* * *

Kakashi had to admit that, out of the three, it was _Naruto_ who was the best at money management.

The blond had 35,156 ryō left over to Sasuke's 5,866 ryō and Sakura's 3,111 ryō- the former opting for the more expensive tastes of the 'elite' while the later decided that the majority was needed to ensure she looked her best. Naruto did, however, allot over 15,000 ryō for food but Kakashi had the suspicion that this was less because the boy was a bottomless pit and more because he was being overcharged.

Still it was a lesson learned on all their parts; a practical, if boring, one for the genin and one that showed him what he would have to correct with them- Sasuke needed to learn that elitist supplies wouldn't always be an option and Sakura had to know that it was impractical to care as much as she did about her appearance in order to be a kunoichi while he had to teach Naruto that a henge could be of use outside of the Academy.

"That's it, you're dismissed- wait." He paused as if a thought just occurred to him, his genin stalling. "You guys are to use those journals to write about your day- think of it as homework that I'll be checking when we meet here tomorrow at seven. Bye."

Having said his peace, and content enough that he didn't need to see their reactions, he used _Shunshin _to head over to where he had sensed Tenzo. He did, after all, have a plan that involved his kohai, even if said kohai wasn't aware of it yet.

* * *

**A/N:**I didn't think it was going to go this way- Kakashi _was_ going to terrorize his kohai for the 'good' of his students. But, _practicality_.

I _actually_ made budgets for the genin (and Kakashi one _with_ genin) so the left over money was thought out- Sakura lives with her parents but cares far too much about her appearance, Sasuke is a snob (but the majority of the money _does_ go into the upkeep of the Uchiha District) and Naruto is overcharged (even if he made sure to save enough for his prank supplies.


	3. Kohai

"Yo, Neko-chan."

Tenzo very carefully did _not_ jump at his partner's unexpected greeting, "Are you back now, Senpai? Who did you fail this time?" Then, glaring at the new recruits that were gawking at the legendary Inu, he snapped, "Get back to work! I'm not wasting my time to watch you guys do nothing!"

There was a pause from his partner as the rookies scurried to continue their drill, "Maa...not exactly. They passed."

He snapped to look at his friend, the masked man's slouched body language _just_ stiff enough that he read the discomfort and..._shame?_...there. "They passed? Who?"

"Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke," Kakashi nodded when he twitched. "And Uzumaki Naruto."

He let out a low whistle, even as he noted that the sudden recon his senpai had asked him to do on Sasuke finally made sense, "Shit. Why the trigger bait?"

"Who knows- maybe the Hokage thinks there will be _closure_." The last word came out as a cross between a disbelieving scoff and a resigned sigh. A pause then, slowly- _hesitantly_, "In a way...it worked."

With a nonchalance born from experience, as his senpai tended to just shut down emotionally whenever anyone expressed the slightest interest in anything personal, Tenzo made a vaguely curious noise, "Hm..?"

"I came to the realization that I have been running for a very long time," A pause then the soft _scritch_ of hand scratching hair. "And...that it's time to _stop_- to face the past."

Tenzo deadpanned, "Without actually speaking of it as it's illegal."

"Ah...details." Senpai acknowledge before waving it off.

He sighed internally, hoping that things would work out because he didn't think Kakashi could pull himself back together another time, before deciding to bring back the original focus of the conversation. "What are you here for then?"

"Maa, I found a way for you and your clumsy little kohai to help me and my adorable little genin."

And Tenzo shuddered at that tone because he _knew_ that tone- it was the same tone that had somehow managed to convince him into cross-dressing and seducing the Wind Daimyō into decreasing Sunagakure's budget for funding from the Daimyō and addressing more job requests to Konohagakure.

* * *

"You three are going to try the experiment again- same rules apply- while _I _read what you've written." Kakashi told his genin the day after he met with his kohai, magnanimously accepting the journals as if he couldn't have just taken them before waving them off. "Waddle away, ducklings."

He started with Sakura's, as it was a guarantee that she would be interacting with people.

_- May 3_

_Sensei was late- again!- and made us run around the entire village until we collapsed! I was covered in sweat- it was gross!- and had to have _Naruto _carry me! I need to burn this outfit- who knows where that idiots been? Then we worked on _budgets_! How can I show Sasuke-kun that I am his true love by running laps and making budgets?_

He closed his eye in something akin to pain as he realized that _yes_, the girl had actually wrote that and it was _all_ she wrote before moving onto Sasuke's.

_- May 3_

_We were tied together and ran until Sakura collapsed and had to be carried. We then made budgets. Training ended with Sensei giving us a journal to write in._

With a sigh he moved onto Naruto's.

_- May 3_

_I have to remember to go to the store 'cause there is only one cup of ramen left- but I got lucky since I ran into Iruka-sensei and he treated me to breakfast. Running was boring- I had to be tied to _Sasuke_!- but at least I got to carry Sakura-chan! Then we had to do budgets- which wasn't that hard since Ayame-nēchan taught me how to do those when I first started living on my own- after Kakashi-sensei explained that the running had three points._

_1) Teams can't run faster then the slowest person.  
2) Like ramen, Chakra doesn't last forever so we have to learn to go without sometimes.  
3) We have to train ourselves if we want to become chūnin._

_Then we were free to go, even if we have this writing as _homework_- yuck! But Teuchi-ojiisan let me eat ramen for free when I went over! So I guess it wasn't all bad. I don't, uh, know what else to write and I have to go to bed so..._

Well, Kakashi thought mirthlessly, at least the blonde wrote more then what he had been present for. None of the entries were acceptable for shinobi though, they were brief and emotion-orientated when they should have been impartial and detailed.

A flare of chakra, as familiar and unthreatening as a friend calling a greeting, made him acknowledge Tenzo's approach. "Is everything ready?"

"Yes, senpai." his kohai as if his question were ridiculous- which it _wasn't_ because the other had come to him no less then three times in order to ascertain his orders. "The whelps," the name that he had coined for ANBU rookies made his mouth tug into a smile as he recalled the first time he had used it. "Are all in place and know what to do. The surveillance equipment barrowed from T&I are set up also, though Morino-san mentioned that he wished to speak to you to specify what you will do in return for the favor."

Mentally he sighed at the thought, it was never good for a shinobi to owe another a favor- even a comrade- as it can be dangerous for the shinobi, but nodded. "And the packs for my little students?"

"Here." A storage scroll was tossed at him, perhaps with more force then necessary but he could understand his kohai's resentment over being sent on what he considered a frivolous errand. "I even color coded the packs for you."

Making a noise of appreciation, Tenzo tended to get _bitchy_ when he wasn't thanked for the extra things he did, he took out the three packs and checked them over. The pink pack only had weapons, the blue only had clothes (albeit cheep ones that were bought from a second hand store) while the orange one contained food rations- each having enough for three people to last two weeks.

It was not much, but it would do for what he had planned.

* * *

**A/N:**Tenzo. Yeah, that's basically it.

**Whelp -** _a_ _young animal: a young animal, especially the young of carnivorous mammals such as wolves, lions, bears, and dogs. _

ANBU have animal masks, why _not_ call rookies whelps?


End file.
